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A man has been found guilty at Birmingham Crown Court of sending "black magic" threats to his mother. O'Neil Burke, 41, demanded she place £20,000 on her husband's grave. He was arrested trying to pick up a package of "dummy" cash in Handsworth Cemetery. Burke, of Woodlands Street, Cheetham, Manchester, was convicted of two counts of blackmail. GUARD UNION STRIKES CALLED OFF The biggest rail union has struck a deal with train operator Chiltern Railways to head-off planned strikes by guards over their safety duties. The Rail, Maritime and Transport union called two strikes in protest at guards' jobs being "devalued". An RMT spokesman said the union was delighted to have reached agreement with the rail company. HEALTH TRAINING CENTRE TO OPEN A Birmingham facility is to open offering clinical training and research facilities for staff from both the NHS and the private sector. The Centre for Education and Clinical Effectiveness will be based at the private Nuffield Hospital in Edgbaston. It is hoped the centre will help the hospital retain highly qualified staff. Labour MP Gisela Stewart will open it. 'GREEN' ISSUES SURVEY RELEASED Young women in the West Midlands are less likely to care about "green" issues than older women with families, a magazine survey has revealed. Prima magazine, which is running a campaign to raise environmental awareness, showed young people needed a "selfish" motive to "go green". The survey also said people believed Britain had become a throwaway society. DESERTERS' MEMORIAL IS UNVEILED A statue of a blindfolded teenage soldier has been unveiled near Lichfield, in memory of servicemen shot for desertion in the First World War. The statue is of Private Herbert Burden of the Northumberland Fusiliers who lied about his age to join up and was only 17 when he was shot for desertion. The memorial in Alrewas was created by Birmingham artist Andy De Comyn. Two former nightwatchmen convicted of sexually abusing boys in Birmingham have been warned of long jail terms. Arthur Birch, 81, and Eugene Devoti, 79, were convicted of offences at the Tennal Assessment Centre in Harborne after denying all charges against them. Birch, of Quinton, Birmingham, and Devoti, of Baddesley Clinton, Warwicks, were cleared of 20 other sex charges. MAN'S DEATH HAD NEGLECT FACTOR A jury has returned a verdict of accidental death aggravated by neglect after a teenager was found hanging at Brinsford Young Offenders' Institution. David Henderson, 18, died five days after he was found suspended from a bed sheet tied to bars in his cell in the institution near Wolverhampton. The Belfast-born youngster had complained of being bullied by inmates. TRICYCLE RIDER DIES IN CRASH A 40-year-old tricycle rider has suffered fatal injuries in a collision with a car in Frankley, Birmingham. The man, who is understood to be from the Rubery area, sustained serious head injuries and died in hospital. Anyone who witnessed the incident in Ormond Road is urged to contact traffic officers at Bournville Lane police station. DOG POISONER JAILED FOR 60 DAYS The RSPCA has welcomed a 60-day jail term for a Birmingham man who poisoned his neighbour's dog with painkillers. William Ecock, 53, was banned from keeping animals for five years after he admitted causing suffering to Titus, a Staffordshire bull terrier cross. Birmingham Magistrates' Court heard Ecock, of Bolton Road, Small Heath, did not kill Titus, who fully recovered. HEALTH BOSS DISMAY OVER TOBACCO Birmingham's director of public health has voiced dismay that a Bill to ban tobacco advertising was not included in the Queen's Speech. Dr Jacky Chambers said: "It is terribly disappointing to see one of the most important items on the current health agenda being put on the back burner. "How can there be anything more important to people's health?" 23rd. June 2001 The rider of a motorbike arrested after a chase in Birmingham which left a policeman hurt has been sectioned under the Mental Health Act, police said. West Midlands Police said the biker, who is in his early 20s, would be questioned at a later date when he was in a better mental condition. Two youths who were also arrested at the scene were released without charge. Police are hunting an armed robber who threatened a Royal Mail driver at gunpoint in Birmingham and escaped with a "substantial" sum of money. West Midlands Police said the victim was threatened after he parked his van outside a post office in Small Heath. Meanwhile, officers in Halesowen are hunting three men who raided a betting office in Alexandra Road. Staffordshire police have been praised by Her Majesty's Inspector of Constabulary as an "effective and efficient" force. The force was praised particularly for its dramatic reductions in house burglaries and car crimes. Chief Constable John Giffard said: "I am greatly encouraged by the positive tone of Her Majesty's Inspector." MORE AREAS REOPENED AFTER VIRUS More areas of Cannock Chase Country Park, which were closed as a precaution against foot-and-mouth, are being reopened this weekend. Staffordshire County Council said parts of Brindley Heath and areas to the north of the White House linking up Sherbrook Valley would be reopened. A council spokesman said: "All reopened areas will be clearly signed." GO-AHEAD FOR TRANSFER OF HOMES Dudley Council has been given the go-ahead by the Government to transfer its 27,000 homes to an independent not-for-profit housing group. If tenants vote for the proposal, the council claims more than £300m will be available to improve homes. A council spokesman said tenants had a "tremendous opportunity to decide the future for their communities". A 30-year-old deaf woman from Derbyshire has become the first person in Britain to have a bionic ear fitted. The new generation cochlear implant was given to Stella Gascoyne, from Langley Mill, by doctors at Nottingham's Queen's Medical Centre. She said: "I could never hear birds singing or even crisp packets opening but now I can and it's great." BUILDINGS IN LINE FOR AWARDS Walsall's St Paul's bus station and Darlaston baths are competing for the nation's top architecture prize. The nomination comes one year after the New Art Gallery in the town was also shortlisted for the prestigious prize. The projects are joined by two others in Shrewsbury to represent the West Midlands for the Royal Institute of British Architecture's Stirling Prize. TECHNOLOGY SCHOOL PLAN APPROVED Walsall councillors have rubber-stamped plans to turn a Bloxwich school into a new £15m technology academy. TP Riley School will reopen as Walsall City Academy in 2003, a publically-funded but privately-run school specialising in technology. The academy will be sponsored by the Mercers Company and Shropshire's Thomas Telford School Online. ACTION URGED FOR HEAMOPHILIACS A senior Labour peer has used a meeting in Solihull to call on the Government to take urgent action to bring justice to sufferers from haemophilia. Lord Morris of Manchester said thousands of haemophiliacs had been infected en-masse by unclean products. He told the Haemophilia Society annual meeting it was "the worst treatment disaster" in the history of the NHS FLYING SCOTSMAN VISITS CITY The world's most famous locomotive, the Flying Scotsman, is due to return to Worcester in a glorious puff of steam. The locomotive is due to arrive at Shrub Hill station with up to 500 visitors on board. Sporting its distinctive London and North Eastern Railways livery, the Scotsman is due to spend the afternoon in Worcester. 25th. June 2001 POLICE APPEAL TO BABY'S MOTHER Police have urged the mother of a baby girl, who was discovered abandoned behind a kebab shop in Ilkeston, to come forward. Derbyshire Police said the mother may need urgent medical attention after giving birth to a large baby. The girl, who weighs nearly 11lb, has been named Angela and is being cared for at Derby's City Hospital. West Midlands Police has scrapped its policy of cautioning offenders who commit crimes in Perry Barr's One-Stop Shopping Centre. From now on anyone who commits a crime inside the complex - no matter how minor - will be prosecuted. The new tactic has come about after discussions with management and shopkeepers on ways of cutting crime. WORK RESTARTS ON WETLAND SCHEME Work to complete the excavation of a new wetland in a Warwickshire nature reserve is due to restart. Efforts in the Leam Valley nature reserve were hampered during the winter as stretches of the site were submerged under flood water. Now the all-clear has been given for the £100,000 Heritage Lottery-funded scheme to get under way again. POLICE APPEAL AFTER RACE ATTACK Police are appealing for witnesses after three white men assaulted two Asian youths in Sutton Coldfield. West Midlands Police said a 31-year-old victim received serious head injuries in the attack. Detectives believe there may have have been a racial motive, and are appealing for witnesses to the attack in Green Lanes to come forward. 28 RESCUED FROM THEME PARK RIDE Thrill seekers have been rescued from a theme park ride in Staffordshire after the roller-coaster broke down. Managers at Alton Towers theme park, near Stoke-on-Trent, said an as-yet unidentified problem had brought the Corkscrew ride to a halt. Ladders had to be used to rescue the 28 children, teenagers and adults left stranded by the breakdown. HALF OF COMMUNITIES 'DEPRIVED' Almost half of all residents in Sandwell are living in areas of severe social deprivation, a survey reveals. The draft Sandwell Neighbourhood Strategy report lists 39 of the borough's 79 neighbourhoods as being "most deprived". The strategy is based on the findings on employment, crime and education and the quality of health and housing. SERVICE TOPS RESPONSE TIME LIST Staffordshire Ambulance NHS Trust has recorded the fastest response times to emergencies in the country for the sixth year running. The service has successfully managed to respond to 87.4% of immediately life-threatening emergency calls within the Government target of eight minutes. A spokesman said: "We are delighted to be exceeding national targets." FLYING DOCTORS SERVICE GROUNDED Life-saving medical service Wyre Forest Flying Doctors is to fold after 20 years on the road. District doctor Barrie Davies is stopping the vital service which has rushed out to more than 3,000 accidents since 1981. Demand for the doctors' care has fallen to an all-time low with only five call-outs between January and May. CCTV CRACKDOWN ON FLY-TIPPING Cameras are to be mounted at sites around south Warwickshire as part of a crackdown on fly-tipping. The portable CCTV cameras are to be set up at known fly-tipping "hotspots" in order to help catch offenders. Warwickshire environmental crime officer PC Craig Fellowes said major culprits include those clearing gardens or tarring or paving driveways. DOG CRECHE OFFERS DATING AGENCY A pioneering Shropshire puppy creche is to launch a new dating agency
to match pups with loving owners. Eaton Constantine Puppy Creche is the
brainchild of Anne Browning who even offers the dogs a schooling service
complete with end of term reports. The scheme is to be called Shropshire
Puppy Search and will match new-born litters of pups with owners.
26th. June 2001 A lawyer who successfully fought to free the Birmingham Six is due to stand trial charged with a string of sex offences against young girls. Ivan Geffen, 81, of Walsall, faces 11 counts of indecent assault and indecency with girls, aged between six and 14, at Leicester Crown Court. At an earlier hearing, Geffen denied all the charges. A professor and his woman assistant have been jailed after plotting to defraud Keele University and a health authority out of thousands of pounds. Prof Peter Rolfe, from Market Drayton, Shropshire, was sentenced to 10 months at Stafford Crown Court after setting up a "misleading" bank account. Carol Benmakroha, of Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffs, received eight months. Four projects to safeguard the heritage of the region are to benefit from grants totalling more than £800,000. The money will go to Palfrey Park in Walsall, two local archive collections of sound recordings and Alcester Roman Heritage Museum in Warwickshire. The awards are the first to be made by the Heritage Lottery Fund's regional committee for the West Midlands. OTTERS 'RETURNING TO WATERWAYS' Otter sightings in Birmingham waterways are the result of a project boosting dwindling numbers, a report claims. The report, by the Water UK and The Wildlife Trusts Otters and Rivers Project, shows that a 1998 scheme has improved or built 700 natural habitats. A new five-year initiative to conserve threatened wetland will be presented to Environment Minister Michael Meacher. Police are investigating a possible racial motive for an attack on a pub which was pelted with bricks and stones by a gang of youths. West Midlands Police said The Plough pub in Tipton was attacked by a mob of up to 40 youths who hurled missiles. Several drinkers received minor injuries during the attack on the pub in Tividale Road. PRIEST MUST PAY DAMAGES - JUDGE A Roman Catholic priest who had a relationship with a parishioner will have to pay her damages, a judge at Birmingham High Court has ruled. Father Terence Fitzpatrick, 65, is being sued for damages by Pamela Brown over their relationship when he was a priest at St Osburg's Church, Coventry. Fr Fitzpatrick admitted liability over their affair at a pre-trial hearing. POLICE NAME KILLER DRUG VICTIM Police have named a Birmingham man who died after taking a killer batch of drugs at a nightclub. Bret Karl Gilkes, 20, died after taking contaminated tablets at an all-night rave at the Raindance festival at SE1 nightclub in London. A man has been bailed in connection with the drugs, believed to be Ecstasy, a police spokesman said. PLANE CRASH VICTIMS NAMED Police have named two men who were killed when their microlight aircraft crashed in a field near Tenbury Wells. West Mercia Police said the dead were pilot John Willett, 47, from West Bromwich, and his 41-year-old passenger Eamonn Hampsey, from Tenbury Wells. The victims' two-seater bi-plane came down in a field close to the village of Nash. DEAD MOTORCYCLIST NAMED Derbyshire police have named a motorcyclist who died when his machine left the road in Belper. Stephen Grindley, 28, of Ashbourne, was killed when his green Kawasaki careered off the A6 at Broadholm in Belper. Police have appealed for witnesses to the accident. They particularly want to trace a couple who stopped to give medical assistance. WARNING OVER REPEAT MUGGINGS Police fear that muggers are targeting revellers as they walk home
from a Staffordshire club, after three street robberies in recent weeks.
The latest attack was on a 25-year-old man who left Stafford's Zanzibar
club. He was knocked to the floor by two men who stole his wallet. The
offence has been linked with two similar attacks in recent weeks
27th. June 2001 MAN IN COURT OVER SELBY 'CLAIM' A 27-year-old Coventry man is due to appear in court charged with falsely claiming that one of his relatives was involved in the Selby rail disaster. Ian Farndon, of Willenhall, is scheduled to appear at Coventry Crown Court for trial. Farndon is alleged to have caused unnecessary police searches and inquiries because of his claim. More than 170 people were convicted of animal cruelty in the region last year, RSPCA officials have revealed. The figures released by the charity reveal a marked rise from the 1999 total of 95 convictions. The charity's West Central regional manager, Stephen Mulholland, said: "Sadly, too many people today have a throwaway attitude to animals." The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has eased animal restrictions in Staffordshire in the wake of the foot-and-mouth crisis. The county has changed from an "infected area" to an "at risk" area so farmers can move animals under licence. A DEFRA spokesperson said: "Foot and mouth has not been eradicated. The advice is to be on guard." A Walsall lawyer who helped free the Birmingham Six took young girls on trips and indecently assaulted them, a court has heard. Ivan Geffen, 81, ideally picked girls aged seven to nine and targeted youngsters from disadvantaged families, Leicester Crown Court heard. He denies 11 sexual offences allegedly committed between 1977 and 1998. Council chiefs in Stafford are to consider measures to protect the town from the kind of flooding which caused misery to thousands in the past year. Ideas include encouraging landowners to reinstate wetlands in the upper Sandyford/Marston Brook area and diverting the flow of the River Sow. Other ideas include a possible flood warning scheme. A family have swapped their £100,000 house in Aylton, Herefordshire, for a home they are building almost entirely of straw bales. Kester and Zinnia Wilkinson's new two-storey home is to be fashioned from 600 straw bales on land near Ledbury. The couple, both aged 31, came up with the idea after Mr Wilkinson went on a course on how to build with straw. POLICE MET HANGED MAN'S FAMILY West Mercia Police's Assistant Chief Constable met the family of a black man who hanged himself the day after the death, an inquest in Telford heard. Errol McGowan, 34, was found hanged in Urban Gardens, Telford, in July 1999. His family claims racial harassment was never considered by police but the force has said race-hate threats formed the "centre" of the investigation. FAMILIES REFUSE ORGAN DONATIONS Almost half of bereaved families in the West Midlands refused permission for their loved ones' organs to be donated last year, a survey has shown. The 13 West Midlands health authorities said 44% of families asked said they would not consider organ donations. Doctors have blamed the poor response on lack of communication in the wake of last year's organs scandal. PRAISE FOR HOMELESS PROJECTS Two schemes in the West Midlands have been highlighted as examples
of best practice in a new publication aimed at preventing homelessness.
Birmingham Prime Focus and the Coventry Hostel Brokerage Scheme feature
in Preventing Tomorrow's Rough Sleepers, published by the Rough Sleepers
Unit. Both projects provide accommodation and support for the homeless
28th. June 2001 A 34-year-old West Midlands woman has been charged with murdering her common-law husband, police said. Mariam Mehdi is due to appear before Warley magistrates over the death of taxi driver Zafar Mehdi, 44. Mr Mehdi was in a violent struggle at the couple's home in Oldbury last year. A post-mortem examination showed he died of a stab wound to the heart. MISSING GIRL MAY BE IN BRIGHTON A 15-year-old girl missing from her home in Derbyshire is thought to have travelled to the South Coast, police said. Laura Stanley, of Cotmanhay Road, Ilkeston, was last seen on a bus going to Nottingham. A friend has told police she may be in Brighton and have contacted colleagues on the East Sussex force BALLOON UNITES LAURA WITH LAURA Staffordshire schoolgirl Laura Buxton was amazed after she attached a note to a balloon and received a reply from a girl 140 miles away with the same name. Laura, from Stoke, then discovered the other Laura Buxton, from Witshire, was also aged 10, and also owned a black labrador, guinea pig and a rabbit. Now, the two girls are writing to each other and hope to meet soon. PRESS-UP MAN BEATS WORLD RECORD A 36-year-old former paratrooper from Warwickshire has beaten the world record for the number of press-ups in one minute using the back of his hands. Paddy Doyle, from Atherstone, completed 70 press-ups in 60-seconds, 14 better than the previous record. His next attempt to break a record is the five-minute back-of-hands press-up title at Bletchley Park on August 19. More than £80,000 raised from waste-tipping is to help create a new nature conservation site in Staffordshire. The National Forest Company is using the money from waste disposal tax charges to create the 140-acre site in Croxall, near Lichfield. The firm is creating more than 200 sq miles of forest across Staffordshire, Derbyshire and Leicestershire. RAIL CRASH HOAXER JAILED A Willenhall hoaxer who claimed his partner was involved in the Selby rail crash has been jailed for five months at Coventry Crown Court. But Ian Farndon, 28, of Tarquin Close, will be released from custody having already spent four months on remand. Judge John Fletcher said Farndon's actions were foolish and immature and had wasted a great deal of time. GRANT TO AID DEAF RESEARCH Scientists at Keele and Warwick universities have been awarded a £333,000 grant for a three-year project to improve the lives of deaf people. The research aims to enhance the speech recognition and comprehension of people fitted with cochlear implants. The team of academics will look at ways of increasing the transfer of information via the hearing aid device. ARTIST TO BRIGHTEN UP FUNERALS A Turner Prize-nominated artist is opening a coffin shop in Bishop's Castle, Shropshire - with the aim of transforming funerals. Carol Aston's Purple Funeral Company is to hand-paint special caskets with flowers, animals and football colours. The artist, brought up near Craven Arms, will give advice on "alternative" ceremonies to celebrate life. FIRMS URGED TO IMPROVE SECURITY The Chief Constable of West Midlands Police is urging mobile phone companies to do more to prevent the devices being used after they are lost or stolen. Sir Edward Crew said banks and building societies should also act to cut down on credit card fraud and robbery. The calls come in his report to the Police Authority, which shows robberies increased in line with national trends. METRO CRIPPLED FOR 24 HOURS An investigation is under way into the cause of a fault which crippled the Midland Metro for more than 24 hours. Trams between Birmingham and the Black Country are running again after an isolator failed in West Bromwich area, bringing services to a standstill. A Travel Midland Metro spokesman said the offending isolator would be studied to find out what went wrong. 29th. June 2001 MAN ACCUSED OF FATHER'S MURDER A 22-year-old man is appearing at Birmingham Crown Court accused of murdering his father. Kenny Wilkins, whose 47-year-old father Kenneth Wilkins was found dead in the Saltley area last December, is expected to enter a plea to the charge. Mr Wilkins, from the Shard End area, is alleged to have committed the offence some time around December 8 to 21. Narrow boats from across the country are converging on Birmingham for the start of a three-day festival celebrating the UK's canals and rivers. The Inland Waterways Exhibition is being held at the National Indoor Arena, alongside the city's regenerated canal network. Organisers of the show hope it will boost trade both on and off the water. A 34-year-old Oldbury woman, accused of killing her common-law husband, has been remanded on conditional bail by Warley Magistrates. Julie Ann Mehdi was charged with murdering taxi driver Zafar Mehdi, 44, on June 28 last year. Mr Mehdi died from a stab wound after being in a violent struggle at his home in Bason's Lane, Oldbury. Publicist Max Clifford emerged from a High Court battle with Mandy Allwood, who miscarried octuplets in 1996, with his reputation intact. Although the judge ordered Mr Clifford to pay £15,200 to Miss Allwood, 35, of Solihull, he rejected claims that he made a "secret profit" from her story. The court case related to payments allegedly made by a newspaper. A climber from Stoke-on-Trent, who lost all his fingers to frostbite, is able to write and pick up objects again using a revolutionary 'bionic' hand. The device, fitted to Stephen Ball, 44, by surgeons at Nottingham City Hospital, is the first of its kind designed for an adult. Its electronic fingers are controlled by impulses from the muscles. PROTEST MAN JAILED FOR 8 MONTHS A man who staged a four-hour protest on the M6 has received a suspended eight-month jail sentence at Wolverhampton Crown Court for causing road chaos. Jason Biddulph, of Stechford, put his head in a noose and clung to a 50ft structure above the M6. Biddulph pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing. His sentence was suspended for two years due to family circumstances. CALL FOR CHANGE TO FINANCE LAW The Court of Appeal called for urgent changes in the law after finding itself powerless to help the innocent victim of a car hire purchase scam. Norman Hudson, of Glenfield, Leicestershire, paid £17,000 in good faith for a Mitsubishi Shogun but faces paying for it again to Shogun Finance. The seller was a thief, who used hire purchase, and did not legally own it. BRIDGE JOINS DANGER LIST Warwick's historic Old Castle Bridge has been put on a danger list of England's most at-risk structures. It joins more than 1,600 buildings and landmarks which English Heritage believes need vital restoration work. Haydn Thomas, chairman of Warwick District Council, hoped the bridge's inclusion on the list would encourage fundraising to help its repair. CAR PLANT A EUROPEAN LEADER A Derbyshire car plant is the second most productive of its kind in Europe, a report has shown. The Toyota car plant at Burnaston, near Derby, had an output of 86 cars per worker last year according to survey authors World Markets Research Centre. Author Ian Robertson said: "The report again sees UK plants competing with top global performers." COUNCIL'S RURAL POLICING PLEDGE Derbyshire Dales District Council has promised that the next meeting
of their Community Forums will provide important information on rural policing.
Derbyshire police have been compiling a crime and disorder strategy for
the county and will use the forums as part of their public consultation
process. Residents can also hear the latest news on the specialist rural
policing unit.
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